Category: Digital Transformation

In recent years, digital transformation along with globalization have undergone a rapid acceleration, among many other changes in society, and this has led to changes in consumer behavior. Digitization is a big part of everyday life for fashion consumers. In addition, this digital transformation has changed the shopping experience, especially in fashion, it even affects the way in which users follow fashion and trends since now everything revolves around social media (Hagelberg & Tuunainen, 2017).

The attitude that mainly reluctant fashion brands had towards social networks has changed a lot in recent years. Social networks such as Instagram, Twitter or Facebook are used by fashion brands as a means of connecting with their consumers and are a great opportunity to improve their communication with them (Kim & Ko, 2012). As Bautista (2013) argue the new media often influence the consumer throughout the entire process from creation to spreading the brand message, thus creating an interaction with the consumer.

Another novelty that has reached the world of fashion thanks to social media are influencers. As Khamis et al (2016) argue, they describe themselves as a kind of non-traditional celebrities who became famous due to their content and presence on social media. Also, fashion influencers on social media are more reliable and valuable than commercial ads, as well as easier for companies to measure their benefits, due to their two-way communication, participating in online discussions motivated by social improvemen (Gummerus et al., 2012; Bernoff and Li, 2008). Influencers often help you decide on what clothes to wear and what not, but for this there are the stylists who have also had to be forced to go online.

Nowadays applications tell us where to go, what to eat, what to buy, … why not how we should dress? The remote services of ‘personal shoppers’, stylists and designers that have always been offered are now becoming a survival tool for these face-to-face trades (Perez, 2020). This is nothing new about online advisers but it has increased its activity. Through emails, video calls or directly from applications, the possibility of hiring stylists or image consultants to help you with your wardrobe was expanded.

Not everything is an advantage over social media. As Pollay and Mittal (1993) argue in their model about product information, beliefs of ambition and materialism, falsifications and beliefs of abuse of power are important factors related to the attitudes of users who dislike social media. Further, not all people have the skills to handle social media to the fullest (Chowdhury, 2017).

To conclude, it is obvious that the future of fashion is going through technological digitization. Personalized products, recommended by artificial intelligence, with automation in the purchase and delivery, with massive data working for consumers and, every time, with less need for physical spaces.

The development of technologies and digitization offer new opportunities for many companies that allow them to access greater productivity and relevance in a world that constantly changes. Besides, the digitization of the economy and society is called megatrend since its importance is widely recognized in many domains, on the other hand, the digital transformation is called disruptive megatrend, as a result of the pace of change and innovation it carries (Lederer et. al., 2018; Lloyd, 2017). Companies strive to be the most innovative and use the latest technologies possible. Finally, digital transformation has become an important issue for all companies globally (Westerman et al., 2011).

The fashion industry has been able to allow itself to be disconnected from technological developments, as it has usually been related to intangible values related to the product, but it has had to adapt. Rocamora (2017) claim the fashion has started a great digital transformation which is undergoing through all its processes and facets, from the supply chain to its communication. For instance, digital transformation, properly driven, could transform the fashion industry into a more sustainable and truly customer-oriented business (Bertola & Teunissen, 2018).

On the other hand, the pandemic forced many companies to boost investment in technologies and prioritize their digital transformation initiatives, since there was no other way of sale. Even, John Lewis for the first time in its 155-year history, during which we have faced various difficult periods, including two world wars and the 2008 financial crisis, would also close their stores on the same day (Elle, 2020). Apart from the effects of the pandemic, online sales of fast fashion have increased due to the growing penetration of the Internet, offers exclusively for online purchases and increased trust in paying through the Internet. Especially, mobile apps (Rey-García et. al., 2018). The competition is extremely fierce in the online segment of the United Kingdom fashion industry with brands like Jaded London, Miss Guided, ASOS or Pretty Little Things.

Zhou et al. (2007) indicate that convenience is the main reason why consumers choose to buy online. Since there are fewer inconveniences in the online process compared to those that can be found in the traditional purchase, for example, that the consumer has to queue (Ahuja et al. 2003). Another advantage for consumers of online sales is that they have the possibility of buying at any hour or moment of the day (Childers et al. 2001), while in traditional stores there are limitations on the opening hours of the stores.

The objective of digital transformation is continuous optimization, that is, when a company detects changes in the market and has the ability to respond quickly. Moreover, some advantage of the digital transformation are better quality of broadcasting, lower costs, more substantial programs and freedom of choice of services (Verhoef et. al., 2021).